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Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat denounced the proposed Israeli-Egyptian peace pact in Beirut on Friday (16 March). The Palestinian Liberation Organisation chief was speaking at a mass rally marking the second anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese Socialist Party leader Kamal Jumblatt who was ambushed and killed two years ago.

SYNOPSIS: The rally was held in the Concord cinema in Beirut, with members of Jumblatt's party outside with guns and military on trucks mounted with machine guns. Lebanon's Prime Minister Dr. Selim Hoss spoke first, calling for a national reconciliation in the Lebanon. Dr. Hoss attacked the rightist military's who are co-operating with Israel in South Lebanon.

P.L.O. leader Yasser Arafat attacked the peace plan proposed by United States President Jimmy Carter, with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Premier Menachem Begin. He called the proposed treaty a conspiracy which will not succeed.

Yasser Arafat went on to say that the agreement by Egypt and Israel to the U.S. peace terms is treason and the settlement will not work. He rejected all American solutions for the Middle East, saying that President Carter will not succeed in expanding American influence in the area. Speaking directly to President Carter he said, "You cannot place the oil-rich Middle East in your pocket because it is an explosive region. We do not agree with the current settlement, we believe only in one thing, fighting." And again later he repeated that all American solutions would be rejected.

Mr. Arafat's speech came at the same time as further evidence of mounting Arab opposition to the Egypt-Israel settlement. He said that his commandos would confront the Americans Seventh Fleet, adding that demonstrations in the occupied West Bank during the week had shown that Palestinian self-rule offered under the settlement was also rejected.